3 Wisconsin backs rush for more than 100 yards in opener

He's no longer a Badger, but Montee Ball couldn't help but be impressed with the afternoon his former teammates were having back inside his old stomping grounds of Camp Randall Stadium.

Just in case anyone was wondering, No. 23 Wisconsin can still run the ball without Ball.

The Badgers are up to their old tricks on offense with new coach Gary Andersen after trampling over Massachusetts 45-0 in the season opener with 393 rushing yards.

"Badgers run game (picking) up right where it left off! Keep ballin you 2," Ball, who is now with the Denver Broncos, posted on his Twitter account Saturday night in a message to Badger backs James White and Melvin Gordon. That duo combined for 287 yards against the Minutemen.

On most other teams, Ball might be irreplaceable. The winner of the Doak Walker Award last year as the nation's top back, Ball owns the NCAA record with 83 career touchdowns.

At Wisconsin, it's a virtual assembly line of running backs.

"Those guys are special players," quarterback Joel Stave said about White and Gordon. "With those running backs, they have huge big-play (abilities) so we just have to give them creases."

There's little doubt about the abilities of White and Gordon, but attach this footnote to Wisconsin's impressive statistics: UMass, in just its second year as a major college program, simply didn't have the talent defensively to keep up with the Big Ten's three-time defending champions.

Next week's opponent, FCS school Tennessee Tech, may not be much of a measuring stick either. The Golden Eagles gave nearly 188 yards on the ground last year, ranked 91st out of 121 FCS schools. They were 111th in total defense giving up 466 yards.

But these early-season games at least give the Badgers a chance to see live action. The experience will help with the transition to Andersen and new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, with Stave also back at quarterback after beating out Curt Phillips for the job in training camp.

The running backs had worn down UMass at the half, but the passing game wasn't clicking.

"I didn't grab Joel and say anything specific to him. I just kind of challenged the offense to say, 'Hey, we can throw the ball. We've done it all camp,'" Andersen said. "Let's throw the ball and catch it and make plays."

So the Badgers went play-action. A fake handoff drew the Minutemen in for just a split second - enough time to give receiver Jared Abbrederis time to get room on his defender and the space needed to make an adjustment on a slightly-underthrown pass.

Touchdown Badgers for 65 yards. Stave went deep again for 57 yards to Abbrederis on a similar play.

"It's just good when you can hit them deep when they're running in the run game trying to get their noses in there," Abbrederis said about play action. "You've got to be able to go over the top and back them up a little bit. Hopefully we can do that a couple times this season."

It's more successful, of course, when the backs are making plays. On Saturday, White and Gordon were joined by freshman Corey Clement, who finished with 101 yards on 16 second-half carries. He became the first Badger to surpass 100 yards in his Wisconsin debut since P.J. Hill ran for 130 yards in a 35-14 win over Bowling Green in 2006.

Even with the track record on the ground, having three backs each gain at least 100 is fairly unusual for the Badgers. It was just the third time in school history that Wisconsin had accomplished such a feat. It also happened in last year's Big Ten championship game against Nebraska, and against Indiana in 2008.

Gordon finished with 13 carries on Saturday, while White had 11. With the game in hand late, Clement took over the workload in the second half.

They don't mind sharing.

"We're all humble," Gordon said. "We're going to get our carries. We just have to make the best of every opportunity."